Breakdown of Ovo je pisac koji mi je dao knjigu.
biti
to be (sam, si, je)
ja
I
knjiga
book
ovaj
this (m) / ova (f), ovo (n)
Questions & Answers about Ovo je pisac koji mi je dao knjigu.
Why do we use koji here?
Why are the words mi and je placed right after koji?
Mi (to me) and je (is) are clitics. Clitics are short words that naturally want to sit in the second position of a sentence or clause. Because the relative pronoun koji starts a brand new clause, the clitics take the second position immediately after it.
Why is the order mi je and not je mi?
When multiple clitics cluster together, they follow a strict sequence. Pronouns in the dative case (like mi) always come before auxiliary verbs (like je).
Why is the word for book knjigu instead of knjiga?
Knjigu is the accusative case of the feminine noun knjiga. We use the accusative case for direct objects, which are the things being acted upon. Here, the book is the thing that was given.